Miscellaneous. 231 



Ornithomyia differing from all the Eproboscideous insects hitherto 

 described as British. 



On the 25th of September I met with a pair of the Lesser White- 

 throat, Sylvia sylviella, at Don-Mouth, and shot one; it seems to be 

 a very rare bird in Scotland, though plentiful further south. On the 

 same day (after an easterly gale) I found on the beach a Pomarine 

 Jager, Lestris pomarinus, a young bird of the year, with the central 

 tail-feathers scarcely projecting beyond the rest. The Little Tern, 

 Sterna minuta, is common here, there being a breeding-place of this 

 species a few miles to the north of Don-Mouth. The only other lo- 

 calities in Scotland where I have observed it are Guillon Point and 

 Tyne-Mouth, in East Lothian, where it occurs in small numbers. 



A Shark 1\ feet long was lately taken from a bag-net at the end 

 of Aberdeen Pier, and was publicly exhibited for a few days. It 

 seemed to me to differ in several respects from the Porbeagle, Lamna 

 cornubica, and to agree best with the Beaumaris Shark of Pennant, 

 which however is by many considered as a variety of, or even iden- 

 tical with, the species first named. The teeth, for example, were not 

 serrated as they are in the Porbeagle*, and the snout was less elon- 

 gated, being short and obtuse. Along with the shark was displayed 

 an enormous Fishing Frog or Angler, Lophius piscatorius, which the 

 fishermen say is not uncommon upon this coast. — John Macgil- 

 livray. 



On the Common Hare of the Gangetic Provinces, and of the Sub-Hi- 

 malaya ; with a slight notice of a strictly Himalayan species. By 

 B. H. Hodgson, Esq., Resident at the Court of Nepal. 



(Lepus macrotus et Oiostolus, nobis.) 

 It has often been remarked, that the ordinary type of the genus 

 Lepus in the Gangetic provinces differs materially from that of En- 

 gland, and it has been further alleged, that the Hare of the Sub-Hi- 

 malayan ranges of hills is not similar to that of the plains below 

 them. No one however has, I believe, heretofore been at the pains 

 to verify or refute these allegations, which I therefore now propose 

 to test, and to show that the former is sound, the latter unsound. I 

 have specimens of the ordinary Hare of the plains and of the hills 

 now before me, and after the most careful comparison, can discern 

 no difference between them in size, proportions, or even in intensity 

 of hue in the colours, further than as such everywhere varies with 

 age, health and seasons. The type therefore of this genus in the 

 mountains and in their subjacent plains (on this side the Ganges at 

 least) is the same ; and of this species, which we shall call macrotus 

 (from the large size of its ears), the females are, as usual, somewhat 

 larger than the males, being from snout to rump 19 to 20 inches, 

 with an average weight of 6 lbs. and a maximum of 8^ to 9, whilst 

 the males fall short by 1 inch or more of this size, and seldom sur- 

 pass 5 lbs. in weight. The general structure and proportions are 

 those of Lepus timidus, but the size is much less, the English hare 



* See Dr. Johnston's description in Parn ell's ' Fishes of the Frith of 

 Forth,' probably taken from Yarreil's standard work. 



